What Meta’s $17 billion settlement means for students, plus beauty tutorial risks and student voice in AI policy

This week brings a landmark settlement over how Instagram and Facebook are built, new research connecting beauty tutorials to product safety, and a program training student school board members. Here are the three key takeaways.

• Meta settles for $17 billion: On August 26, Meta agreed to pay $17 billion and add stronger child-safety features after states sued over allegedly addictive design. Students under 18 will see a two-hour daily limit by default, no app access between midnight and 6 a.m., hidden like counts, and no push notifications during school hours.
• Beauty tutorials connect to heavier product use: A new Rutgers University study of 143 high school students found that students who watch beauty tutorials use 40% more personal care products in a day, and only 19% read ingredient lists on a regular basis.
• Students are training for a real seat in AI policy: The new Edvance Cohort prepares student school board members to contribute to district governance and AI policy conversations. Districts can nominate a student representative through September 4.

The Gist

Attorneys General from states around the country recently sued Meta over allegedly addictive design features on Instagram and Facebook, and the case is worth bringing up with your students. The states were pushing the court to have Meta remove autoplaying videos, Instagram Stories, beauty filters, and algorithm-driven feeds, which are the exact features students interact with every single day. The argument at the center of the lawsuit was that these features were designed intentionally to keep users, including students, hooked. On August 26th, Meta reached a settlement with the states, agreeing to pay $17 billion and add child-safety features to their platforms that are substantially stronger. California’s Attorney General made it clear that Meta is just the first platform in line, and this case highlights that the conversation about how social media is built is no longer just happening in schools. That makes it a timely and important conversation to have with students too.

What to Know

Students describe the same moment all the time. They open an app for one video, then look up and 40 minutes have passed. This scenario is at the center of the case Meta just settled, and it hands educators a fresh way to talk about attention and striking a balance.

Attorneys general argued that features like infinite scroll and streaks reflect engineering decisions, built to hold a young user’s attention as long as possible. Students feel the pull already. When friends and followers react to a post, the brain answers with a small hit of dopamine, and the next scroll always promises one more. Naming these features as design choices shifts the whole conversation. Students can start to ask “what is this app built to do?” That question builds judgment students carry into every app they download next.

In addition to Meta settling with attorneys general across the country for up to $17 billion over the next decade, pending court approval, students will begin to notice changes on Facebook and Instagram, including:

• A two-hour daily default across Facebook and Instagram for users under 18, adjustable only with a caregiver’s permission
• App access blocked from midnight to 6 a.m., with direct messages still open
• No push notifications during school hours, plus a nighttime notification pause
• Like and reaction counts hidden by default
• A feed option students can switch to where a recommendation system no longer picks the order
• Age assurance within a year, so the platforms can tell under-13, teen, and adult accounts apart

In a recent blog post, Meta shared, “Ensuring teens have a safe and productive experience on our platforms is an absolute imperative for Meta,” and will be building on its “longstanding efforts to empower parents and support teens.”

TSI’s Take

Sometimes students get a bad rap for not being able to put their phones away. But it’s clear that these platforms weren’t always designed with their well-being in mind. Helping students understand how social media platforms are built to capture and hold their attention helps them take back control and make conscious choices about their own screen time. When they start noticing that they’re being influenced to scroll one more time, they might choose not to.

Educators can help by:

• Teaching students about the psychology behind infinite scroll and autoplaying videos: When students understand that platforms are engineered to keep them on their phone, they can recognize the feeling and step back more easily.
• Creating space for honest conversations about how social media affects their well-being: Help students find balance with these platforms by teaching them strategies to protect their sleep and focus.
• Being open about striking a balance: When educators acknowledge that they too feel the pull of endless scrolling, students learn this is a shared human challenge, not a personal failing.

Help students understand algorithm design and healthy screen habits with the #WinAtSocial Lesson, Impact of Dopamine and Algorithms on Screen Time, where they learn to recognize design patterns and protect their attention.

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The Gist

Beauty tutorials shape more than a student’s aesthetic. A new study from Rutgers University found that students who follow beauty influencers with product lines use 30% more personal care products in a day, and students who watch beauty tutorials use 40% more. Many of those products carry “hormone-disrupting and potentially carcinogenic chemicals,” according to Emily Barrett of the Rutgers School of Public Health. Girls in the study used twice as many products a day as boys, and 19% of students said they read ingredient lists.

What to Know

Researchers surveyed 143 high school students at a New Jersey school about the personal care products they used in the past 24 hours and how they spend time on social media. Students who watch beauty tutorials or follow influencers with product lines reached for more products in that single day. Girls reported a median of 14 products daily. Boys reported about 7.

Some of those products contain phthalates, parabens, phenols, and other chemicals that researchers have connected to hormone disruption and cancer risk. Only 19% of students said they read ingredient lists on a regular basis, and 5% said they use an app or website to find safer options.

Social media now shapes what students put on their bodies, one routine and one purchase at a time. Most students make those calls without knowing what the label says, and a feed full of skincare hauls widens the gap. Educators and families can close it by helping students connect what shows up online to the choices they make in front of the mirror every morning.

TSI’s Take

Modern life skills education equips students to understand how systems work and make choices aligned with their values. Teaching students to think critically about beauty trends and product safety is helping them make informed choices for themselves.

Educators can empower students by:

• Starting conversations about ingredient awareness and personal agency: Empower students to make choices based on what’s best for them, not what an influencer promotes.
• Connecting social media influence to real-world decisions: Help students identify which products they own came from social media influence versus actual need. That awareness can shift their future choices.
• Asking students why they actually use the products they do: Their honest answers usually reveal whether it’s self-care or comparison.

Explore real skincare science, debunk common myths, and help students navigate beauty trends with confidence using the #WinAtSocial Lesson, Skincare Trends and Misconceptions.

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The Gist

A new program called the Edvance Cohort trains student school board members to hold their own in district governance and AI policy conversations. The premise is simple. Students live inside these policies every day, so they see how the policies land. For school leaders, this matters because student input sharpens technology decisions. When students arrive prepared, districts make calls that hold up for the people those calls affect. Districts can nominate a student representative through September 4.

What to Know

Education leaders have called for student voice in technology decisions for a while now, especially around AI policy. The Social Institute built its approach around that idea years ago. Our Student Ambassadors shape how modern life skills education comes together, including lesson ideas and the language students hear. The Edvance Cohort applies the same principle to school governance.

Diligent, the National Student Board Member Association, and the Consortium of State School Board Associations run the program together. Students attend three virtual trainings across the 2026-27 school year, covering how boards work, how policy gets made, and how districts build a budget. They pick up the language and the systems behind the decisions, which lets them contribute rather than observe. Students can also meet peers across districts at an optional in-person conference in Dallas in March 2027, building a network of student leaders doing this work.

A student seat on the board is the first step. The knowledge and confidence to speak up in a complex policy discussion is what turns that seat into influence. Districts are starting to treat student perspective as something worth preparing for, and they are putting real professional development behind it.

TSI’s Take

When schools empower students to participate in governance, they are telling students that their perspective matters and they have agency in shaping the policies that affect their education.

Educators can continue to elevate student voice by:

• Asking students what they actually think: Our blog on how schools navigate tech and viral trends shows what happens when educators listen to students before making decisions.
• Building voice into your curriculum and school culture: When students see themselves reflected in lessons, they develop the agency that transfers to governance and advocacy.
• Ensuring student voice leads to actual change: Our partner webinar emphasizes that students find their voice when given genuine platforms and real support.

Help students understand school technology policies and their role in shaping them with the #WinAtSocial Lesson, The ‘Why’ Behind School Tech Policies, Devices, AI and Beyond.

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Educator questions about this week’s stories

What did Meta agree to in the state settlement?

Meta agreed to pay $17 billion and add substantially stronger child-safety features after California, Colorado, Kentucky, and New Jersey sued over allegedly addictive design. For users under 18, the changes include a two-hour daily default, app access blocked from midnight to 6 a.m., no push notifications during school hours, hidden like counts, a non-algorithmic feed option, and age assurance within a year.

How does social media influence what students put on their skin?

A Rutgers University study of 143 high school students found that students who watch beauty tutorials use 40% more personal care products in a day, and students who follow beauty influencers with product lines use 30% more. Only 19% of students said they read ingredient lists on a regular basis, even though some products contain phthalates, parabens, and phenols that researchers have connected to hormone disruption and cancer risk.

How can schools include student voice in AI policy decisions?

Districts can nominate a student representative to the Edvance Cohort through September 4, which trains student board members across three virtual sessions in the 2026-27 school year. Schools can also build student voice into everyday practice by asking students for input before technology decisions get made, reflecting student perspective in lessons, and showing students how their feedback changed a policy.

Students are navigating platform design, influencer marketing, and school tech policy every day. #WinAtSocial gives them the skills to make smart calls in each of those moments, with peer-to-peer lessons co-created with students and ready for your classroom. Want to see how it looks in your school? Request a demo and we’ll walk you through it.

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